going over the fiscal cliff is serious business. and i'm here seriously trying to resolve it. and i would hope the white house would get serious as well. >> now, the white house thinks republicans have overdone the outrage today. they say the real problem republicans have is they don't want to raise taxes on the rich. so basically we are still deadlocked tonight, shep. >> shepard: vice president biden did his part for the economy today. he went shopping? >> yeah a new cosco here in washington, d.c. opened up today. big crowd in the parking lot. vice president's motorcade showed up. he actually bought a big screen tv as well as a apple pie. what could be more american than that. he went on to is a say he is feeling good and optimistic about a deal. take a listen. >> i am. i am. all these folks in this store, man, going to make a difference. >> more important than shopping trip will be what actually happens between the president and speaker boehner. we're told they had a phone call last night. initial report suggested it was tense. white house saying they made some progress. we